Monday, November 14, 2011

Josephine Tey – Inspector Alan Grant Mysteries

Josephine
Tey and Gordon Daviot are both pseudonyms of Elizabeth MacKintosh.
She has written 8
mystery novels between the years 1929 to 1952, five of which feature Alan Grant. A quick search on Gutenberg is
sure to throw up a fair collection of novels. The first of the Alan Grant mysteries
is ‘The Man in the Queue”, which did not really capture my attention. But it
created just enough interest for me to pick up the second book, ‘A
Shilling for Candles’ and then, I just had to find out what Grant does in the
next book!

I suppose I need to mention that Tey’s books are
accused of political incorrectness. There are claims that the author’s
prejudices are passed on to her characters. To me, so many years removed in
time, all that matters is a good mystery and on that count, Tey
certainly scores high on my list.

Her detective, Alan Grant, does not astonish à laSherlock Holmes;
he does not have the flamboyance of a Poirot or the elegance of a Peter Wimsey.
What he does have is ordinariness and a dogged determination to find the truth.
He is an Everyman detective, albeit a clever Everyman.

Grant is well educated, as seen from his quotes
from the classics, he is conscientious and will worry over a case even after he
has reached a conclusion that is acceptable to all and perfectly logical. In The
Man in the Queue, for example, after arresting the man who he has believed
to be the murderer and listening to his story, Grant starts to wonder if he has
indeed caught the right suspect. Evidence is never infallible and often Grant persists
even when no one else can see the point.

Because he is essentially a kind and fair man,
Grant finds devoted hero worship from his nephew and his sergeant, Williams.
And that explains Grant’s appeal – he is no awe inspiring superhero – just a
nice man trying to do his job and use his powerful position to fight for the
cause of justice, succeeding against difficult odds.

In the novel, 'The Daughter of Time', which is Tey’s
most famous Alan Grant mystery, Grant finds himself in hospital with a broken
leg. He is bored to death and has no patience with the magazines and other
trivial pursuits that are commonly provided to hospital patients.

Grant has a strong belief that the face is a true
mark of the man. And considers himself an expert in the art of understanding the
character through studying the face. As he says,

“It was a strange thing how much the meaning of a countenance depended on eyebrows. One change of degree in the angle this way or that and the whole effect was different.”

Knowing his interest, Grant’s friend, Marta Hallard, an actress, brings
him some portraits to study. Grant does not recognize these people but the face
that attracts his attention is that of Richard III.

Now if you
know English history, then you also know that Richard III was king for only two
years. He is remembered for the ignoble way he came to the throne. Richard III
was supposed to the guardian of his brother’s son, Edward V, who was to be
crowned king after his father’s death. Instead Richard III managed to have both
of Edward 1V’s sons declared illegitimate and crowned himself as ruler. And the
Princes? Why, no one saw them again, leading to speculation that Richard III
had murdered them.

But when Grant looks at the portrait
of Richard III, he sees not an evil murderer but a man of power, one used to
both responsibility and suffering. So why is Grant’s analysis of Richard so
different from what history has to say?

With the help of the ever faithful
Sergeant Williams and reputed scholars, Grant investigates the true story of
Richard III, so many years later, and concludes that this image of a murderer
was created mainly as Tudor propaganda (with the help of dramatists like
Shakespeare who portrayed the king as a power hungry despot, hunch backed and
monstrous in appearance). Grant makes a persuasive case for Richard III as a
brave, courageous warrior king by the end of the book.

An enjoyable book just like the
rest of Tey’s mysteries.Interesting and
ingenious plots that test Grant and the reader, loving attention to detail and
varied settings all written in a pleasant prose make Tey’s novels necessary
reading for those of us who like mysteries.

And when you are done reading Alan
Grant’s cases, do look for Tey’s other books including ‘Miss Pym Disposes’and ‘The Franchise Affair’ – both first class mysteries!